National Forklift Safety Day (NFSD) 2022: BR Williams and Carolina Handling Put the Importance of Forklift Safety and Operator Training in the Spotlight

Brief History of National Forklift Safety Day

The Industrial Truck Association founded National Forklift Safety Day in 2014 to highlight the safe use of forklifts and serve as an annual reminder of how important training and equipment checks are for every industry that relies on forklifts. This year was the 9th annual celebration, and BR Williams and Carolina Handling used the occasion to both celebrate employees and share more with them about the value of training and safety. 

Celebrating National Forklift Safety Day 2022

At this year’s National Forklift Safety Day, the importance of forklift safety and operator training was in the spotlight. While safety is always an important consideration, this annual event organized by the International Truck Association encourages those who use forklifts to review their training and safety guidelines. 

This year, NFSD activities took place at BR Williams on Tuesday, June 14. The event included a forklift rodeo where operators tested their driving skills on an obstacle course. In addition, all attendees had a chance to operate the Raymond VR simulator to experience a simulated warehouse environment. 

NFSD took on especially renewed significance this year as ongoing labor shortages and supply chain constraints currently affect workplace safety. 

Event Highlights

This 2-hour event was mainly for employees and their families, where BR Williams allowed all of its employees to visit their Eastaboga distribution center. They gave tours and had a friendly forklift rodeo competition where our divisions competed against each other. The course was about 9 minutes and covered the areas of speed, accuracy, and safety! The event also included a delicious Kona ice truck for employees to enjoy. 

Shane Scheid won lunch for his entire division, and everyone got a gift card for participating. It was a fabulous day! Thank you to Raymond for supplying the event’s lunch and an AR simulator for employees to enjoy.

During this event, BR Wiliams wanted to show their employees just how vital forklift safety is for their business. As an organization with a culture of safety, taking time to celebrate this day and acknowledge its importance is a top priority for leadership. 

The event included representatives of different teams throughout BR Williams 6 facilities, which encompasses 1.7 million square feet of warehouse space:

• AWS Stryker – Shawn Taylor
• AWNW Spares – Shane Shield – Winner 
• AWNE – Justin Jones 
• Eastaboga – Elton Ashley
• Piedmont – Andrew Tuck

“Forklift safety is part of our culture at BR Williams. Our forklift safety procedures help to minimize the risk of incidents and ensure that our operators and our associates within our operations are protected. We will use this day to emphasize the importance of all lift truck safety and proper operator training to our warehouse associates. Our forklift operators move hundreds of pallets both inbound and outbound each day to serve our customers with the best service they expect.”

 Phillip Deason, VP Of Warehousing and Distribution.

The Value of Operator Training

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, insufficient training, inexperience, speeding, and improper turns are among the top reasons for forklift accidents. Forklift operation is responsible for more than 7,000 non-fatal injuries each year and continues to make the OSHA top ten list of most cited injuries. 

According to recent data, in 2018, 115 U.S. workers were killed in incidents involving forklifts, with 42 percent of all fatal forklift accidents caused by vehicle tip-overs. Our mission is to share information and train employees to the best of our ability to ensure these accidents are minimized within our control.